


Thank You

by Aelia_D



Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Angst, Drunkenness, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-06
Updated: 2013-01-06
Packaged: 2017-11-23 21:31:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/626729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aelia_D/pseuds/Aelia_D
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In your darkest hours, sometimes you just need a friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thank You

Six had never been this drunk before in her life. She drank, sure. A shot or two, maybe a couple beers, but she had never set out to destroy her sobriety like this before. But she was trying to destroy herself, her memories, her past. The fragments that tormented her. She was trying to obliterate the pain from a past she couldn’t entirely recall.

So a night at the Gomorrah had seemed like a good idea. She tried to stand, to go feel up a hooker, and promptly fell on her ass. 

She laughed hysterically, because it was funny, and she was drunk. She laughed until her sides hurt, and her stomach felt tight. And then she leaned over, and vomited on the floor. 

That was when the tears started. 

Tears from months of hardship. From aches and pains of the body and heart that she couldn’t put words to. From the senseless violence and the hardship out here in the Mojave. From the fact that she had finally remembered something.

She had remembered her family. Remembered watching them die. 

Because she couldn’t have any of the happy memories. No, she had to have the sad ones. The ones about death and destruction and pain. The last time she had ever seen her baby sister. The look in her mother’s eyes as she screamed herself hoarse at the way they hurt her daughters.

Six remembered hands on her body. Unwanted hands. She didn’t remember the rest. But she recognized what had happened to her, and was grateful she couldn't remember. 

She sat on the sticky floor of the disgusting bar and sobbed in a puddle of her own vomit. She might have stayed there all night, weeping, if she had been left to her own devices.

But she was not alone.

After all of the pain and loss, she was not alone.

Strong hands caught her under the arms, and hauled her to her feet. Strong arms wrapped around her and slung her up, over their back. She snuggled close to the warm person who carried her. Pressed her snot and tear coated face close against a soft neck. 

“Veronica,” she sighed.

She had found the best friend and most unexpected ally. The one person in the waste who had stood by her through it all. Through the nightmares. Through the pain and the suffering. Through miles trekked on tired feet. Through helping people who would never say “thank you.” 

The trip to the Lucky 38 from Gomorrah was a blur. She didn’t remember how Veronica got her upstairs. But she had. 

And she had tenderly washed Six’s filthy face, had wiped away the detritus from a terrible night. She had stripped away the filthy layers of battered armor and other fabrics. Had wrapped Six up in something soft and warm. Had tucked her into bed with her teddy bear. 

She remembered the gentle ministrations. The way they had soothed her and made her feel cared for. She remembered snuggling up against Veronica as her best friend settled into the bed beside her. 

In the morning, when she woke with the worst hangover she experienced in her life, Veronica was there with some pre-war tablets and some purified water. Despite the throbbing headache and the nausea, she smiled. 

She was not alone. She had a friend. Someone who would be there for her. Someone who picked her up when she fell, and who got her home when she couldn't get herself there.

Six could not begin to express her gratitude for her friend. For the fact that whatever she did, Veronica was there for her. She didn’t know how, didn’t know if the words even existed for the feeling. 

So she said what she could. The only words that began to come close.

“Thank you.”


End file.
